Foster mom who?

Alvin has had another visit to the dog park but we stayed on the little dog side because I was afraid Timmie would get himself in trouble again with his humping problem.  Poor Alvin, he remembered the joys of the big dog side and apparently the little dog side pales in comparison.  What was of interest is that again Alvin went up to every person and allowed one woman to pet him all over, including his back.  He did some ducking and jumping when people tried to pet the top of his head but he was very taken with people and kept going back to them.  I found myself a bit tense and incredulous when people didn't pay attention to him because I knew how much it took for him to approach people and I was irritated when he was ignored.  I also found that Alvin could care less about me when we are at the dog park.  Apparently he goes completely deaf because he does not respond at all when I call his name.  Alvin is usually very responsive to his name being called but at the dog park, no comphrendo.  It's so pitiful that when he looks my way, I often wave really big and yell, over here Alvin and the problem is that Alvin wears an Adopt Me bandanna so it's clear that I am his foster mom and he won't even acknowledge my existence.  If I had wanted that type of treatment I would fostered a teenager.  I think I am going to get a reputation as being an undesirable foster mom at the dog park.  Whatever the case, he is sure making his case for finding an adoptive home and he may get one simply because someone feels sorry for him and wants to get him away from that mean foster lady.

What I have found very interesting is that Alvin is far more comfortable being touched and approached when he is outside.  He also allows strangers to pet him more than people he knows.  Alvin is terribly curious about everything and I think his curiosity of new people seems to override his fear of being touched.  The more I watch Alvin outside the more I suspect that he was kept outside most of his life.  It seems as though any type of containment causes him anxiety.  I am also starting to suspect that many of Alvin's issues come from deprivation more so than abuse.  As I have written here, I often watched him and was at a complete loss as to what his background was but the more I get to know him, I suspect that he was kept in a back yard with very little human contact.  I suspect he was with another dog(s) because although he has no idea how to play or interact, he isn't fearful of dogs.  Alvin has a large scar across his side and so he was clearly injured in some way and he is very fearful of heights or being picked up and so something awful may have happened to him but there seems to be more deprivation than abuse.  Speaking of being fearful of being held, I have had to pick him up a couple times to put him in the car and he did better with it.  He also did much better this time riding in the car.  He was clearly very scared but he didn't appear as though he was having a seizure this time.  We are going to take a lot of short car rides and go through a drive-thru so that he associates car rides with good things.  My only concern is that Alvin is such a maniac for food that I worry that I may create a dog that while passing each fast food establishment will jumping at the window while salivating profusely. 

Speaking of Alvin's food issues, hope springs eternal for him and every time I get up he starts his food circling, (his circling constantly around my legs) in anticipation that I am going to feed him.  I have had to nearly eliminate treats because he got himself so worked up that it truly became a hazard to walk in my own house.  With that said, Alvin can look downright pitiful in his never-ending campaign for food and often goes and sits beside the food container while staring at me.  I can take it but it just rips my mom apart and so tonight she told me that I needed to be giving him a bedtime snack because waiting 12 hours for food again was too much for him. I explained to her that a lot of people only feed their dogs once a day and we both remarked that that type of system would cause Alvin to get sores on his butt from all the hours he would be sitting by the food container waiting.  But just when Alvin loses hope, his foster sister, Stevie tries to come to the rescue.  I was in the kitchen and left the lazy susan open and luckily I heard rustling just as blind Stevie was lifting the entire box of dog treats out with her teeth.  I rarely use the lazy susan and didn't even know there were treats in there but little blind Stevie smelled blood in the water and was lightning quick.  Too bad for both of them that the kitchen was officially closed for the night.  Plus, in my bid to get Alvin to like being on the bed, all treats are fed there.  Again, another reason men are flocking to my door to date me!